Finding Always
by The Muse of Apollo
Summary: Castle had ignored her, had taken her for granted, and was now paying for it by watching her flirt with Eric Vaughn. He would not lose her to some rich playboy, oh no. There was only one rich playboy for Kate Beckett, and that is Richard Castle. Now all he has to do is tell her. Insert for 5x21. Rated T for language. ONESHOT


**a.n. This insert is set in 5x21. In this one, _Still (5x22)_ happened after, as it should have or did, or whatever happened, I don't remember.**

 **Originally, there was going to be smut, but it turned out terrible, so I deleted it. You'll just have to imagine it. Sorry.**

 **Disclaimer: idontowncastledummy.**

 **::–::**

Everything was messed up, and it was all his fault.

 _He'd messed up._

And now he was paying for it by watching her flirt with Eric Vaughn, a rich bastard who was a million times worse than the playboy Richard Castle ever had been. This was his punishment for ignoring her for that stupid, stupid video game. He knew he had hurt her, and he didn't even have a good reason why.

He had to fix this, especially now that she was going to be going to be staying in a hotel room with the ' _sexy'_ (according to Lanie) Brit for at least one night. God, how he wished this damn case was over so he could take her home and show her and tell her exactly how much he still, and always would, love her.

But that wasn't going to happen the way the case was currently going, so he had to do something else. So, before she left with Vaughn to their hotel room for the night he walked up to her desk where she was getting her things together.

"Kate, can I talk with you for a minute."

"Not right now, Castle. I've got to stop by my apartment and grab some things before I can take over for the protection detail that is currently at the hotel."

"Please," he begged. "It won't take very long. I just need a few private minutes of your time, then you can go. Please."

Beckett looked up at him, surprised. He never begged like this for her time. Something must really be bothering him. She was still quite mad at him for ignoring her attempt at seducing him the night before, and she wasn't really in the mood for any hasty, jealousy-fueled apology. She just wanted to go, do her duty (forced though it was this time), and then spend the next few days in her apartment, licking her wounds.

She felt taken for granted. She felt undesired, and it bothered her. She'd never felt those things before in any of her relationships. It was always her who got bored first. Her who decided that the other person wasn't what she wanted. She didn't really like being on the other end of that, especially because she thought Castle was her one and done.

Now, she didn't know what to think. Meridith's words kept floating around in her mind, bothering her constantly. Gina's constant presence in her boyfriend's life also rubbed her the wrong way, though she tried to ignore it.

"Castle...I...Can we please just do this later? I'll call you, okay?"

Castle took a step back, as if slapped. Those words. He'd heard those words once before, said in almost the exact same tone of voice. She sounded small, tired, defeated. Those words were the last thing he'd heard before being left in the dark for three months, alone with nightmares of her being shot over and over again. Of him failing to get to her in time, and watching her bleed out in his arms as he begged her not to leave him. Three months of not knowing if she was even alive. Three months of thinking of her and Josh falling deeper in love, and being there for each other. Three months of pure _hell._ Oh, yes, he'd heard those words before.

He wasn't going to go through that again, especially with this being all his fault. He reached down, grabbed her arm and started dragging her away from her desk.

"Castle!" Kate shouted, shocked. It didn't take her long before she started to fight him, digging in her heels.

"Come with me, Kate. This is important, and I won't take no for an answer."

"Oh, so you just get to do whatever you want now, is that it?" She hissed, thankful that the bullpen was mostly empty and that Gates had gone home. She finally got him to stop. He turned around to look at her, but didn't let her arm go.

"No, that's not it, but if I don't get a chance to talk with you, I might not have that chance again, and it scares the shit out of me. Now please, stop fighting me. Just please? I don't ask for much."

Kate scowled. "Fine. Let's go."

She led him to the first door down the hallway, which just turned out to be fairly large supply closet. Shelves were braced against the right side wall and the back wall, filled to the brim with cleaning supplies, while the left side had brooms, mops and all sorts of cleaning tools neatly hanging from pegs drilled into the wall.

Kate entered, turned on the overhead light, and then turned to face Castle. She crossed her arms across her chest, and tried hard to refrain from tapping her foot impatiently. She didn't want to be here. Not only did she have some place to be, but she didn't want to talk to Castle. Not now, at least.

"Kate."

Castle had shut the door behind them and had stepped closer to her. He reached out, but she stepped back away from his touch. She tried to ignore the hurt on his face, but was fairly unsuccessful.

"What do you want, Castle? I don't have all day. So spit it out," she snapped. "Is this about Vaughn? I don't need any more of your jealousy, thank you. So if that's it, we can skip this and I can get on with what I have to do."

"This has very little to do with him, Kate. This has to do with me, and you. With us -"

"I don't have time for this," she said. Beckett started to move past him towards the door, but just as she was reaching for the handle, Castle grabbed her, twisted her around and pressed her up against the wall. Before she could protest, his mouth covered her in a devastatingly passionate kiss.

"Dammit, Beckett, will you just shut up and listen to me," Castle said when he pulled away, his tone breathless. "I need to say this," he continued, not letting her go. "I love you."

Kate, who had just recovered from the kiss and was about to shove him away again, looked up sharply and met his eyes, shocked. She hadn't heard those words come out of his mouth since they'd fought the night their relationship started. She had thought he was holding back for some reason. And then the whole video game fiasco had happened, and she thought that maybe he didn't feel that way for her any more.

"W-what?"

"I love you, Kate. I'm in love with you. You need to know. I'm so, so sorry that I ignored you last night. I imagine you felt that I was taking you for granted, or perhaps I didn't want you any more. Nothing could be further from the truth, Kate," Castle said, his eyes begging her to understand. "I love you, and I want you, and I will love you and want you, _always_. Even 50 years from now when we're both old and gray and struggling to keep up with our great-grandkids. I..."

He was interrupted by a pair of soft lips and a devilish tongue that had shoved its way past his teeth and into his mouth, tangling with his. The kiss went on for eternity before she pulled back.

"I love you, too, Castle." With that, started tugging at his tucked in shirt. Quickly, she unbuckled his belt.

"Beckett?" Castle said.

"Shush. There is no way we're leaving here until we've both had at least on orgasm. Unless, you don't want to?" She asked hesitantly.

Castle lifted her chin, and kissed her deeply. "I can't believe we're going to have sex in a broom closet. God, I love you."

::–::

Kate walked out of the supply closet after checking her clothing once more. She couldn't help the blush that graced her cheeks as she marched towards her desk and the bag she'd abandoned when Castle had pulled her away.

She also couldn't help the stupid grin that wouldn't go away no matter how much she tried. God, she had it bad. Just thinking of the things she'd spent the last half hour doing made her sweat and ache for more. She knew for sure now. Richard Castle was her one-and-done. Wow.

 **::–::**

 _ **Thoughts?**_


End file.
